gmccormack

If your car stopped because the alternator wasnt working it wouldnt start again because the battery would be dead flat.

And the alternator warning light would be on too. Are you sure the thinner gauge wire on the positive battery teminal (the one that powers the cars electrics not the alternator one) hasn't come loose from the terminal itself even though the terminal is still tight??

Often caused by a sticking governor,typically the "warm up" period before it begins to shift normally will slowly get longer and longer until you will only be left with first and reverse. Try changing the fluid might help , but usually only buys you a few extra km's.

The symptoms you describe are typical of a bad fuel pump relay.

Failure to shift from first to second gear is usually caused by a sticking governor. If this is the case, sometimes the trans will start shifting normally once the fluid gets really hot. It is not usually a good sign, total loss of drive often follows.

If you are lucky the problem could be caused by the kick down cable being too tight. Disconnect the cable, if it shifts normally again, thats the problem.

Check the fuel pump relay. The contacts are often scorched, sometimes even the outer contacts where the relay plugs into the loom have a burnt look to them. Can cause hard or no starting and random stopping.

I though all P/F 325i had intank pumps factory?

I have had 3 P/F cars, a 323, 325 and 318 none had intank pumps.

I stand corrected then. They would have to be aftermarket though. Because you cant buy OEM ones

I don't understand why anyone would press out an old ball joint, when complete OEM arms with both ball joints are so cheap. The extra labour involved outways the cost difference of the parts.

I thought replacement ball joints are not available from the factory because it is seen as poor practise to replace them. Pressing out the old and pressing in the new ball joint reams out the seat in the arm slightly making for a poor/loose fit??

It's not the engine running cold, just more cold coolant flowing through than the engine can heat up. The oil would realisticly heat up as usual.

Actually the oil won't heat up as it is circulating in an engine that is stone cold and being overcooled by excess coolant flow. The bigger problem is the incorrect running clearances between the engines internal parts while it is running cold, causing excessive wear.

I put a screen from a facelift 318 sedan into my prefacelift 323 coupe with out any problems.

It could also be worn swaybar links.

Will the rack swap need a cert??

The clicking noise is usually caused by wear in the small plastic bush, (part no. 4 in the diagram) They cost less than $2 from a BMW dealer.

The coupling is rivitted together ex factory, but when rebuilt they are bolted together again as shown in your diagram, all the parts are available from a dealer indivdually, no need to spend $1000 on a complete unit.

Sometimes levering the gearbox into place can cause the gearbox input shaft seal to leak. The gearbox oil gets on the clutch and starts the slipping

In swapping from drums to disc rear end on my project, I think one or both sides of the new disc rear end have the handbrake still locked on a tad, as the cable is not long enough to come through into the cabin fully and be done up to bolt against the actual handbrake in the car.

In my haynes manual it tells me to get a screw driver and use it to rotate the star wheel inside the hub to let the handbrake off (another reason this is hard is because I cant get the existing rotors off, its being a real pain in the ass and holding me up

Anyone have any experience with this? or do I just keep perservering? and hope it fixes

The star adjusters at the wheels dont effect the cable length. If you cant get the cables to come through into the cabin it is because they are stuck on something under the car, mayby the cable outers are not fully seated in the guide tubes under the floor.

You cant get the rotors off to get at the star adjusters because the adjusters must be loosened off first to remove the rotors.

The adjusters have to be turned by putting a screwdriver through one of the wheel bolt holes in the brake rotor itself.

So that counts out the AFM, ECU and Fuel regulator ( I think)

How do I check if the TPS is forked. Can it be the timing? If so how do I adjust?

Check the TPS by measuring the resistance across the plug terminals. The centre terminal is common. There should be no resistance between the centre terminal and one of the outer terminals at idle, at WOT it should switch sides and there should be no resistance between the centre and the other outer terminal.

A bad fuel pressure reg can only cause to low fuel pressure situation, but you describe the car as having fouled plugs- to much fuel.

The timing in Motronic is not adjustable.

Is the workshop sure that damage was caused? Sometimes if you turn the motor off straight away after the cambelt has snapped there is no damage, but this would still involve removing the head off the motor and investigating. Either way make sure you check it all out!

I believe that is a myth. How quicky you switch the engine off has no relevance as the engine will stop the instant the belt breaks. My understanding is any engine that is an interference design will always be damaged when its timing belt/chain breaks while its running. Non interference engines on the other hand will never suffer any damage.

The AFM may be stuck wide open, the TPS could be shot or you may have a bad contact in the connector hidden by the intake manifold.

The TPS would be where I would look first. It sounds from your description that the ECU may be getting the correct idle posistion signal from the TPS but as soon as the throttle moves above idle it may be seeing WOT from the TPS

Too slow, all gone.

Parts include windscreen, half a dozen or so side windows, centre console some other bits and pieces. Must take the whole lot......FREE.

I'm in Papakura, ph 299 7942 or 021 136 7007.

I drained an E30 tank completely to remove it from my old 323. When I refitted it I had only had a 10 litre petrol can to refill it from. Even with 10 litres in it the empty light was still on, solid. There is probaby close to 15 or so litres left in the tank when the light comes on.

Join the wire from pin 21 (blue/white) to pin 26 (blue/green) on the back of the instrument cluster. Or alternately, just remove the bulb.

I'll do one for $30 including postage. PM me or call me (09) 299 7942 or (021) 136 7007.

I think you use the m20b25 block, head and pistons but use E30 320/323 conrods (130mm) with the m52b28 crank.

A spacer needs to be made for the front of the crank to build it up to the same size as the larger E30 front seal.

E30 boots leak from new. The rubber seals well enough against the boot lid but does not seal properly where it seats against the body.

The sunroof drain pipes will also dump water in the foot well without the need for any water marks on the head lining. They can become blocked and/or cracked or fall off the nipple where they go out through the floor.

The drain in the air vent plenum can become blocked too, the plenum then fills with water, rusts then leaks into the cabin.

The tail light seals on pre facelift cars are made out of a rubber that looks a lot like wetsuit material and just like a wetsuit they absorb water rather than keeping it out.

210000kms, 40000kms until next can belt change. Powersteering, electric windows, aircon, leather steering wheel, Sony CD, Uniden alarm, rear disks, rear headrests, 325 rear sway bar. Includes some spares, 3 sets of instruments, auto trans, 2 windscreens, electric window switches etc.......

$2000 ono

Ph (09) 299 7942 or 021 136 7007.